1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to countermeasures systems and particularly to Directed Infra Red Countermeasures (DIRCM) systems.
2. Brief Description of Prior Developments
Handoff inaccuracies have been a challenge in some DIRCM systems since directed/focused energy became a requirement to deter Infra Red (IR) detecting-guided missiles.
Handoff inaccuracies are driven by platform specifics and environmental issues (variables). Such platform specifics and environmental issues include aircraft flexure; missile warner, specifics such as inherent tolerances, mounting inaccuracies, resolution, and processing latencies; and system processing latencies such as update rate, environmental changes, and DIRCM pointing errors.
The foregoing is further illustrated in FIG. 1. From FIG. 1, it will be understood that 1) sensor location and installation have mounting tolerances contributing to handoff inaccuracies as well as aircraft flexures 2) the missile acquisition warner electronics determines (processes) validity of threat this causes positional data to be late (latency) 3) once a declaration has been handed over (handoff) to the DIRCM controller it must then process the data and command the gimbal to slew to the latency riddled position before track and energy-on-target can occur.